“It’s all a game. It’s all a calculated effort to gain more fans. He got a boxing license. Congratulations to him. Conor McGregor can say anything he wants to but he has a boss and his name is [UFC president] Dana White. He is under contract to the UFC and if he wanted to fight Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match he can’t because his bosses wouldn’t allow that to happen. The brass [from WME-IMG] who recently purchased the UFC [for $4 billion earlier this year] are very smart people and they would never – and put this in bold caps – let him step into a boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather because everyone knows what the outcome would be. He would get his ass beat from pillar to post.”

This is one of several big hold-ups in a potential Mayweather-McGregor bout. Mayweather is one of the greatest boxers of all-time. McGregor is not a boxer. As Rafael notes, McGregor would stand no chance against a pure boxer in the same way that Mayweather wouldn’t stand a chance in a UFC-style fight against McGregor.

Boxing analyst and trainer Teddy Atlas addressed the rumors in May and similarly shot down McGregor’s chances, saying, “He would need about five years – and I’m being very generous and conservative – of boxing training and experience to even entertain the thought of being competitive with any A-plus-level boxer.”

Furthermore, according to Rafael, obtaining a boxing license doesn’t need much – it costs $60 and requires an applicant to fill out four pages of paper work and pass a medical exam.

While the prospects of two of the most exciting fighters in the world facing off remains titillating, it seems this fight may never actually happen.